The LIV Golf League, complete with newly crowned US Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau, heads to the Nashville countryside this week for the 9th event of 14 in the 2024 season.
The Grove Club plays host – a course all too familiar to LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman as the course designer that oversaw its opening in 2012. The prize purse for the week tops out at $25 million for the team and individual ranks, plenty to focus the mind of those coming in from a bruising week at Pinehurst.
Graeme McDowell and his Smash teammates, Brooks Koepka, Talor Gooch and Jason Kokrak head into the week in fifth place on the team rankings. Smash will be aiming to better their second place in Houston and secure their first team victory of the season. With McDowell sitting 21st place on the individual rankings, he will look for a solid final few weeks to consolidate his position in the order to avoid possible trade or release and ensure his 2025 spot.
This will be first visit to Tennessee for the LIV Golf League and the 12th US state to host the 54-hole team and individual shootout. The course had been modified this week from a member’s par-72 to a 71 for the big hitters teeing up over the weekend. As far as scoring opportunities go, the contrast between the two par-4s on the second hole (529yds) and the drivable fourth (344) could not be starker. Three par-5s await including a long 581yd tempter on the18th which could be one to watch come Sunday. For the pin hunters there are 4 par-3s around The Grove which includes the 3rd with 171 completely over water and the 132yd 15th, another short one with water all the way down the right for company.
Heading into the week, DeChambeau’s Crushers top the team standings on 113.5 points while Legion XIII and their captain Jon Rahm sit second on 96 with Torque and Joaquin Niemann just 5 back on 91. Niemann himself tops the individual rankings heading into Nashville on 134.40 points and with clear blue water between him and 2nd placed Jon Rahm on 98.17. The 54 taking part this week includes two wild card picks Anthony Kim and Hudson Swafford with both looking to score their first points of the season. With just five events left of the season those at the bottom of the rankings will be looking to make moves in the coming weeks to avoid the potential for relegation to the LIV Golf Promotions, Lee Westwood being one of those in danger of the drop.
The shotgun start on Friday kicks off at 12.15 local time and naturally there are some eye-catching groupings. Kicking off proceedings on the first will be DeChambeau with Carlos Ortiz and Rahm for company. Meanwhile on the third, Dustin Johnson, Tyrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia get their week underway. McDowell starts on the 16th with Matthew Wolff and Charl Schwartzel. At the other end of The Grove’s 7,297 yards, the 17th will see Bubba Watson, Paul Casey and Marc Leishman begin their week, while Cam Smith, Patrick Reed and Abraham Ancer complete the shotgun start on the 18th.
Coming off the back of his dramatic US Open victory, the past week will feel a bit of a blur for Crushers’ captain DeChambeau and he reflected on his final day at Pinehurst : “When I turned the corner and saw I was a couple back, I said, Nope, I’m not going to let that happen. I have to focus on figuring out how to make this happen. I was a little lucky. Rory didn’t make a couple putts that he could have coming in. I had an amazing up-and-down on the last. I don’t know what else to say. It’s a dream come true.”
Jon Rahm also gave his thoughts on Bryson’s victory and its importance to LIV Golf.
“I thought it was quite a show from the comfort of my home,” he said. “It’s a very enjoyable tournament to watch. I haven’t gotten the chance to enjoy a major from start to finish like that and to get to see a lot of golf was really fun, and to see how everything unfolded. You never want to see great players make a mistake at the end, whether it was Bryson’s three-putt on 15 or Rory’s on 16. But I do consider that Bryson might have, that I could remember — if it’s not the best up-and-down to win a major ever made, it’s got to be top 3, maybe up there with Tom Watson’s chip-in at Pebble on 16, Phil’s up-and-down at Baltusrol on 18.
“There’s obviously going to be a few others like Tiger’s chip-in at Augusta. But on 18, having to do it to actually win the tournament has got to be one of the best, and with how he played on Sunday, I thought he showed a lot, and how much he’s changed himself in the last few years and to hear him talk about it was quite inspiring. I think it’s great for all of us and great for LIV Golf to see him do that.”
High praise indeed from one of the world’s best but Rahm will be looking to bring the American back down to earth with a bump tomorrow as battle recommences in the Tennessee sunshine.